Wednesday, September 21, 2005

re-run

Michael Griffin, NASA’s administrator, publicly unveiled yesterday the space agency’s $104 billion mastermind of a mission that puts astronauts back on the moon by 2018, setting the stage for future expeditionary trips to the red planet.

Many people have suggested that to solve our impending energy crisis, one approach would be to pour resources into an "Moon-Shot" like science project, of sweeping scope, to investigate alternative energy in a focused way.

In other words, quit pretending like we are anything other than oil junkies and bring the full power of the government to the fore, even if it means cutting off those welfare queens in the military-industrial complex.

So far, no such project appears to be in the offing, aside from the George Bush hydrogen economy, funded with a few scraggly billions.

So, it is frustrating to see NASA planning an Apollo mulligan, to the tune of 104 billion dollars. It is a cold war echo as well, seemingly matching China's stated intent to play golf and collect lunar cheese.

The moon will still be there in 100 years. If we truly solve our energy problems, getting out to that rock will never be an issue.

Let's spend 104 Billion dollars on alternative energy research and see what happens.